news archive

As some of you may have noticed, our Social Media panel to the right of your screen has just changed a little bit!

We've been thinking for a while now that we'd like to draw in more of the content that we're all creating on Social Media to the website, and so we've decided to replace our existing Twitter feed (which fed directly from our official Twitter account) with a feed from a list of all our members instead!

Our hope is that this will help personalise the site a bit more, generate more content, and have the added bonus of giving everyone some publicity for their own brand of insanity ;)

If you're not on the list and would like to be, please drop us a line and we'll get you added!

As you may be aware, Blizzard's upcoming shooter Overwatch entered open beta yesterday and is currently free to download & play - No beta key, previous sign-up or pre-order required.

In terms of content, the beta includes pretty much everything you'll be able to expect on launch day; including its full roster of heroes & maps. As such you'll be able to jump in there & get a feel for all the different heroes & their abilities before the game officially launches on May 24th.

- Matches are on the short side so if you have a limited amount of time, this shouldn't be an issue. Overwatch is really well suited for jumping in and out, as and when you want. Unlocks all consist of vanity items like skins & emotes so no other player will have a heads-up on you in terms of weapons or anything, just time played (though all progress from the beta will be wiped upon release anyhow!). The game is also very small (under 6GB) so you won't have a massive client to download just to try it!

- Due to the art direction & the fact that it is extremly well optimized, you don't need a monster rig to be able to play it either. The game runs beautifully.

There are a few of us already playing it but it would be lovely to see a few more people in there. Fancy giving it a try with us? Drop by our Discord channel and see if anyone's playing or up for some games - shatteredstar.org/discord

Just a quick update to let you guys know that we now have a more convenient link to give to people when inviting them to our Discord channel.

If you're looking to invite someone into Discord, rather than generating an instant invite link for them (like https://discord.gg/0iscxurX8fkWaodg which is set to not expire), you can simply give them shatteredstar.org/discord. This will redirect them to the exact same place, just with a link that is much easier to remember and pass out to people!

Hey guys, if you haven't already seen on the forums or elsewhere, we now have our own Discord channel.

You may have heard of it already but if not; Discord is a free chat app designed specifically for gaming. It's very easy to use, doesn't require a guide to connect to or set up, supports both text & voice chat, multiple channels, embedding for videos, screenshots & links and you can connect to it quickly and easily via your browser, the desktop client (PC & Mac, with Linux to come) or even a free mobile app (for both iOS & Android) for use on the go too. It also supports a full chat log history, even for when you're not in there yourself. Joining the channel in the middle of a conversation? Just read up and see what was said before you logged in. Want to leave someone a message for when they next come online? Easy! Lots of other cool features to come as well.

If you fancy joining us on there, all you gotta do is click this link!

As many of you will already be aware, this week finally sees the arrival of the Star Wars: Battlefront beta - One of this years most hotly anticipated games!

Beta will run from October 8th to 12th and is open to everybody, with the pre-load beginning on PC tomorrow morning at 9am UK time. Download size is reported to weigh in at around 11GB.

There will be 3 modes available to try during the beta:

- Walker Assault on Hoth: Fight in epic 40-player battles as a Rebel to destroy the Empire's onslaught of AT-AT's by calling in Y-wing bombers. Or, side with the Empire and protect your walkers while utilizing their mighty weaponry to crush the Rebel objective.

- Drop Zone on Sullust: Escape pods are crashing down and you and your team must fight to control them. With its frantic 8v8 matches, Drop Zone is sure to put your combat and strategy skills to the test.

- Survival Mission on Tatooine: Play alone or with a friend via co-op or split-screen as you battle to hold off waves of Imperial forces including AT-ST's, TIE fighters, elite stormtroopers and more.

There's a few of us here at STR who are planning to check this out so hope to see some of you in there, as well as meet some new faces too. We have just opened a brand new SW:BF section to the forums as well so feel free to make use of that in the coming days!

Just a quick note to say that several new designs have been added to the STR Store since it opened at the weekend. These new designs are available across a wide range of products from t-shirts to iPhone cases, mugs, bags, stickers and lots more. On top of these I've also spent the week designing a snazzy new STR poster!

Got any design ideas or suggestions? Spotted an issue with a current design? Let us know on the forums.

Final note: It would be lovely to see some pictures if any of you happen to buy anything from the store. Mock-ups aren't always a true representation of the final product so it would be great to see what they look like once printed and this will also help us identify any potential issues with text, gradients etc on existing designs.

Well, what can I say? Ubisoft put on a great show themselves with a solid lineup of titles to look forward to, many of which came out of the blue and were a complete surprise to us all. Best conference of the day by far.

Not for long though!

Sony dropped the bombs shortly afterwards and delivered arguably the best E3 Conference we'll probably ever see. When they open with none other than THE LAST GUARDIAN, you know you're in for ride, and that we were. If they're opening with this, surely those other rumours can't be true as well, I asked myself? I had a good feeling about TLG this year and strongly believed it would show, but I fully expected it to be the show closer. Nope!

What was the next bomb to drop? How about the much requested remake of Final Fantasy VII? Oh hell yes! OMG. I still can't believe it now.

They didn't stop there though. Oh no. Pretty much straight after that they went into... Shenmue 3. Holy Crap. This is something I have waited half my life for right there. Words cannot describe...

On top of that we got a stunning gameplay demo of Uncharted 4, the beautiful reveal of Horizon and the list goes on. What an amazing, amazing show. Well done, Sony and thank you for listening to your fans! <3

Apologies if this post is a little all over the place btw. Still on a high right now :D

The biggest gaming event of the year is nearly upon us and is sure to be packed full of exciting live demos, reveal trailers and surprise announcements.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, The Division, Fallout 4, Mad Max, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Mirror's Edge 2, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Star Wars Battlefront, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End & XCOM 2 are just some of the many games confirmed to be there, and those are just the ones we know about.

What are you hoping to see at this years E3? Persona 5, perhaps? Maybe Quantic Dream's next game? If reports are to be believed we may even get to see The Last Guardian resurface too!

The main event actually starts next week but as far as conferences go, those begin THIS evening. Kicking off with the Oculus livestream tonight at 6pm BST (10am PDT / 1pm EDT) - Same time as the Steam Summer Sale is due to begin.

Following that we have Bethesda's conference on Sunday. Fallout 4 and DOOM are a given but I'm really hoping we get to see a reveal of Dishonored 2 as well. Fingers crossed!